“Give All Your Thanks unto God”

In 1983, Ghana faced a severe food crisis. Brought on by drought and a sudden influx of refugees from Nigeria, the crisis threatened Church members and their neighbors with hunger and deprivation. The global Church responded by sending two boatloads of food and supplies to Ghana. The first 50-ton shipment arrived on April 15, and the supplies were distributed by Church members to many families in need.

Emmanuel Kissi, a doctor and early convert to the Church in Ghana, operated a hospital for women in Accra. During the famine, he kept some of the Church food and supplies in a storeroom in the hospital. One day, a poverty-stricken mother with a malnourished child came to Kissi’s Deseret Hospital seeking help. He filled her small basket with food and asked her to take the large cloth wraparound she used to cover her baby while carrying the child on her back and to spread it on the floor. Dr. Kissi poured rice and beans on the cloth. Tears streaming down both of their faces, the woman fell to the floor and thanked Dr. Kissi. He took her by the hand and raised her up. “This food has been sent to you from God,” he said. “You must give all your thanks unto God.”

The food shortage also led members in Ghana to prepare so they would not need to depend on external sources for food. They established welfare farms in several cities. The most successful was in Abomosu. The chief of the town donated 20 acres to the Church at no cost, and members cleared the land and planted cassava and corn. This farm later led to the creation of a farming cooperative in Abomosu that provided food, services, and opportunities to work together for the betterment of the community.